Thanks to Denise for allowing me to guest-author on her blog.
Mary Beth King
Our regular eye doctor recently referred my husband to a specialist. The day before the appointment, the specialist’s receptionist called. I arrived home from work first and listened to the message. 
At first I wasn’t sure there was even a message there and finally made out a tiny, whispery voice. I hitched up the volume on our phone, reran the message and barely made out the Mouse squeaking almost inaudibly and incoherently fast to confirm my husband had an appointment the next day. He listened to the message when he got home and we both agreed this receptionist had a terrible phone manner.
He went to his appointment, was examined by the specialist and told to make a follow-up appointment. The young and apathetic looking Mouse was sitting at the front desk when he came out of the exam and stopped to schedule the follow-up. In her teensy, tinesy voice, she flatly told him she could not find him in the system – even though he had just met with the doctor. Voice and manner showed she had no intention of making any effort to find him in the system. My husband, never a patient man even in the best of circumstances, and I walked out.
The Mouse left a message again yesterday to schedule the follow-up. Again, we barely deciphered her machine gun fast, sotto voce message. He called this morning and the Mouse’s co-receptionist told him that she didn’t know anything about any follow-up and still didn’t have him in the system. She also showed the same disinclination to make any effort to help. He hung up and said ‘Never again.’
We speculated that both receptionists were either A. related to, or B. making whoopee with one of the doctors to be able to keep their jobs because they obviously had nothing else to recommend them.
My husband again called our regular eye doctor, whose competent and audible receptionist then referred him to another specialist with an equally audible and competent staff.
The whole incident made me reconsider my own telephone-side manner. Audible? Check. Coherent? Check. Do I care? Check.
Whether we speak face-to-face or by phone to members, fellow credit union professionals and other members of the public, I know most of us know the wrong answer is, to paraphrase the Mouse, ‘I don’t know’ in a rapid whisper. The right answer is ‘Let me find out and help you with that right now’ in clear, ringing tones.
Feeling smug and assured that you are never a Mouse? Good job.
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December 2, 2010 at 11:26 am
Mark Mykleburg
Oh so true… and true in credit union land. Too many times a job duty is changed to accomodate an employee as they “don’t like it” or “would rather do something else” or the “I am not having any fun” statement. No longer can we say bad attitude but must discuss “Behavior patterns” to go along and be “PC” in the current enviorment. Well I am right there with your husband in the “NETWORK” movie fan club of “I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more” Since when do we allow individuals to be in positions they are just not capable of doing? Obviously yours is a perfect example. You will not go back, you will not “pay it forward” and refer business to them. What makes us all think that we do not have the same situatiuon where we work? Perhaps it is time that we take a good look at the individuals that are in the positions they are in and move them into a positon that we “like” and pay them according to the value they provide the member and the organization. Of course we do need to have a loyalty component in there… as we do not just want to be shuffled out the door but perhaps that is where back office basement work is best suited for them? I challange you to listen to your employees and determine if they too are Mice or even Bull Dogs… but then again perhaps some of you know this already but you are an Ostrich…
Wake up people… why are you allowing someone like Mary Beth’s Minnie Mouse to be the face and voice of your organizations?
Thank you Mary Beth, your timing is perfect as I have been dealing with Dish Network on issues and of course Chase Bank on Identity Fraud with a family member and have been experiencing horrible individuals with “behavior patterns” for the last 6 weeks.
Hey if you need help in this area I know of a great consultant in New Mexico that will do wonders for your organization…
December 3, 2010 at 6:19 am
Glenn Coble
Along the same line… How often do you call someone and receive no answer… ever…. never. As I get get older I find being responsible is more attractive. When I was in my 20s and 30s the world revolved around me so there was no point in answering any calls except those that I was sure could do me some good.
I have been working on my youngest son on this problem and he is getting better… especially now that he is engaged to marry.
He is so proud of his ability to multitask. I’ve tried to point out if you do everything including returning phone calls poorly you send the wrong message to you friends, family, and MEMBERS.
To force myself to return phone calls, even from those annoying happy salesgirls from Tennessee, my voice mail says something like …”and leave me a message. I’ll call back… NO really, I will.”
…and I do… well at least 98% of the time.
One of the annoying phone habits many of US have is leaving too long of a message with you return phone number somewhere in the middle so the listener has to listen to the whole message over. When you get back to the number most respondents zip through the number leaving me spinning in my chair looking for a pen and then it is too late… I have to listen again.
Slow down… I’m sure you know you phone number but I probably don’t.
Oh, by the way the donut shaped numerial is pronounced “Zero” not “Oh.” An old habit that I’m sure many find annoying that I picked up in my old radio days
December 3, 2010 at 6:28 am
Glenn Coble
Another thing that annoys me is when I don’t proof read my blog response …. SORRY everyone
December 3, 2010 at 10:50 am
Mark mykleburg
As you can tell yesterday my machine went “tilt” Chase and Dish Network put me over the edge. After spending time with call center people (my wife is one of them, as she ran a large call center) I realized that we in CU land are quite lucky that we do not have individuals like Minnie Mouse as we are a member driven organization. I am thankful for that. Although I still know a great consultant that can take us to next levels… Have a great weekend folks and Glenn… I am still trying to figure out how to put smiley faces at the end of my sentences.
December 3, 2010 at 11:26 am
Denise Wymore
Yes, Glen, I HATE it when that happens! I always say my name at the start of the call and then at the end again, then my phone number and then repeat the number slowly and clearly.
You made a great point, Mark, that not only will we not go back but we also will never recommend them. On the contrary, we will tell anyone who mentions anything about getting an eye exam how BAD this place was and to avoid it. What’s the axiom about telling lots of people about your bad customer service experiences?
I should have added the contrasting experience I had this week.
My dad was in the hospital for a few days (he’s home and feeling great now!) and was having some sort of scan while my mom waited nearby. She mentioned that she had not eaten since the day before in all the excitment of getting my dad to the hospital. The hospital doesn’t have a cafe. The scan tech left the room for a moment and when he came back he told her that he had ordered a lunch tray to be brought up for her along with my dad’s lunch.
A few moments after he wheeled my dad back to his room, I went to the nurse station to ask if that extra tray was actually coming. The scan tech was there confirming with the nurse that his message had been received and that the tray was on its way. My hungry mom was really grateful.
Not only had that scan tech taken that extra step but he also followed up on it. Now that’s above and beyond the call of duty. I filled out a ‘tell us about your experience’ card at the hospital with the young man’s name. The rest of the staff was very nice too.
You better believe that my parents and I are telling everyone how great the staff is at that hospital, especially the scan tech!
December 3, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Glenn Coble
Mark, I reread your reply and got p.o.ed again. In 40 years of work I have fired 2 persons and now one of the two is one of my best friends.
I have tried not just to keep people but put round pegs in round holes. (no sexual inference intended)
It seems to me that as long as a person is willing to work there is a place in most businesses to get the most out of them. But, because many leaders are not leaders but “Peter Principal” agents they are afraid to work to find the right place for each employee… And, it is a lot of work.
They often apply the “Peter Principal” one step farther and futher weaken the organization.
I have always been a “second banana” so I’ve watched several Directors, CEOs, Presidents, etc. handle the difficult employees. They seem to fall in one of four catagories.
There is the Tough Guy who fires without much thought. They usually hire a friend or sycophant to help them protect their turf. The Mr. Milktoast, quite often lets promotion happen, based on time in grade. They are the flag carriers for the “Peter Principal.” Then there are the Bastards. They form committees and have meetings to discuss the problem employee then make life so miserable for the targeted employee that he/she quits.
My favorite is the Priest. I call him that because the best leader I ever worked for was a priest. Father Bob listen to everyone, put people in the niche that fit and had the guts to work it out and stand by his choices.
Credit Unions, dispite their talk of kindness and caring have many of these characters lurking in many positions of power.
I fell in love with this industry 6 years ago when I join but my visits to GAC, state conventions and other large gatherings of CU power people only reinforces my conviction that there are more “leaders” in the first three catagories than the later one.
December 7, 2010 at 8:57 am
Mark Mykleburg
Glen I completely agree with you that everyone that is willing to work should be able to contribute. I am a firm believer that every human being has value. Like you I have had the unfortunate responsibility handed to me and have fired individuals that I continue to get holiday cards from. We truly need more leaders and mentors like yourself that can take the few precious moments to actually listen to our internal members (Employees) and do what they can to meet thier needs within the needs of the organization and the needs of the members.
I know I would not make a good Brain Surgeon or a Rocket Scientist no matter how much I tried but would hope someone would mentor me towards a position that could provide value to not only the organization but myself. It irratates me when an individual just really does not want to work for the member and help the member or the organization but it puts me right over the edge when we have people in the positions of power that will not take the time to explore an individuals skills and puts them into a position to fail. I can remember one individual in my past that the previous administration actually said that they positioned her into a clerical job of filing titles and files in hope that she would disapper into the sunset. She was miserable and the administration would not of had any heartburn to see the employee leave. During my time there I found that she was dyslectic and we worked with her to where she was happy and we met the needs of the organization. Too many times I have seen where an employee that can add value is set up to fail. Similar to the call center person that I have encountered with my issues with Dish, perhaps this person sould not be in the position that they are in destroying relationships and someone takes the time to work on skill sets needed to succeed both for the individuals level and the organizations needs. What else can this individual do? Sometimes we plop an individual into a position and think magically they will succeed and really we are setting them up to fail. As I stated before sometimes an organization needs the help af a good consultant to open our eyes to what changes we may need. I have gone through many a reorganization due to skill set issues and have seen individuals have a complete turnaround given the chance.
You make a very good point Glenn and agree that we all need to be more Mentors rather than just drones that have the attitiude of “Git er done” Mentors build teams that add value and the others just destroy the organization. Perhaps it is time more of us turned our collars around and took care of the needs of our “Internal Members” and were more like Father Bob.
I can relate to your Father Bob as I currently work with an ordained minister and by far this person is the best I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Every day in all of his interactions with every individual is shows through. We need more like him and more like Father Bob in this world.
Perhaps Dish can someohow work on this and find other employment opportunities for some of the individuals we encounter otherwise more and more clients will leave and take thier business elsewhere.
Sad but true.